Seven-year-old Indian girl takes father to police over toilet promise

Says her father failed to fulfill his promise

A seven-year-old Indian girl filled a complaint with the police about her father after he broke his promise to build her a toilet, BBC reported.

In a letter to the police, Hanifa Zaara asked for the arrest of her father. She also said that she was "ashamed" of defecating outside and that her father cheated her.

PHOTO COURTESY: BBC

According to Unicef, many Indians do not have access to toilets and nearly 500 million defecate in the open. There are also places where toilets have been built but many do not use them.

Hanifa, however, has never had a toilet in her house. She lives in a small town in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu.

Speaking to the BBC, the seven-year-old said that she asked her father to build her a toilet when she was in nursery, after finding out that a few people in her neighbourhood had the facility.

"I was ashamed to go outside and I felt bad when people looked at me," Hanifa said. She was especially motivated upon learning in school about the health problems caused by open defecation.

Her father told her that he would build her the toilet if she topped her class.

"I have been topping my class since nursery," she wrote. "I am in the second grade now. And he is still only saying he will do it. This is a form of cheating, so please arrest him."

She further added that, if the police do not arrest him, they should at least force him to provide her with a signed letter stating when he would build her the toilet.

The girl's father, Ehsanullah, said while speaking to the BBC that, he has started building the toilet, however, he did not have enough money to finish it as he is currently unemployed.

PHOTO COURTESY: BBC

"I asked Hanifa to give me more time but she stopped talking to me because I couldn't keep my promise," he added.

But Hanifa is not sympathetic. "How long can I keep asking him for the same thing? He kept giving me the same excuse about not having enough money. So I went to the police," she said.

On Monday, she went to the police station closest to her school, along with her mother, Mehareen.

"She came with a bag filled with trophies and merit certificates and she arranged them on my desk," police officer A Valarmathi told BBC. "And then she said, can you give me a toilet?"

PHOTO COURTESY: BBC

Valamarthi then called Ehsanullah, who rushed to the police station, worried that his wife and daughter were in danger. Upon arrival, he was shocked to find out the reason he had been summoned.

Ehsanullah often helps villagers with their paperwork and writing letters to local officials and lawmakers.

Reading the letter his daughter wrote to the police, he said that, she seemed to have learned how to write official letters by watching him.

"I never thought this would backfire against me!" he said.

The girl's efforts have managed to gain sympathy and support of the police.

"Her complaint was very honest, so we tried to resolve the issue," Valamarthi said.

She alerted district officials who now plan to raise money to build more than 500 toilets in Hanifa's neighbourhood.

"We were very happy to see her complaint. We organise classes in schools to encourage children to ask their parents for toilets at home," city commissioner S Parthasarathy told BBC.



The Indian government has set a goal to provide every household with a toilet by 2019, however, the work has faced some resistance.

According to a recent study, 89% of rural Indians defecate in the open because they do not want to clean toilets or live close to one - an attitude which, researchers say, is "rooted in the social forces of caste and untouchability".

In India, the practice of cleaning human waste has been performed by low-caste communities for centuries.

The seven-year-old said she was "very happy" with the result of her letter.